“You know your signs,” Lizzy said, impressed.
“I looked them up. I’ve never seen a tattoo of them, and I guess I was intrigued. She’s a beautiful girl. Seems such a waste.” He shook his head and looked back down to the body. “The carving, in my opinion, wasn’t as haphazard as it appears. Notice the offset of the word ‘end.’ Notice the careful location of the last stroke of the ‘N.’ It seems to line up with the deliberate, deeper marks which are just over the kidneys. A puncture to each organ through the lines of the letters, it’s a big coincidence. The marks that were deeper just happened to hit their mark dead on? Possible, but unlikely. It’s very deliberate.”
Lizzy ran her finger along the wound. “You think it was planned? Or the writing could have been a last-minute attempt to cover the actual death blows?”
Darek shook his head. “That’s too big of a coincidence. Besides, that’s one extreme dot-to-dot.”
“Stab to stab.” Lizzy shrugged. “We need a few new pictures now that you’ve got her all cleaned up. I’d like to show this around again; take it with us to all of the locations. Someone did this or knows who did.”
“I already took fresh photographs and made you a few copies,” Dr. Cobb said. “They are in the envelope as well. You’ll find that she was also drugged. There was warfarinin her system, it’s an anticoagulant, and I’m sure that didn’t help with the stab wounds. There were also traces of meprobamate, which most likely put her in a euphoric state.”
Darek thought that was interesting and hoped the girl hadn’t suffered much.
Dr. Cobb gave Lizzy a warm smile, and even though he wasn’t the most handsome man in the world, she gave him one of her pearly smiles and a flirty wink. “Thank you. I’ll go over your full report. Great job.”
When Darek and Lizzy left minutes later, they headed back to the station to regroup and see if Max had gotten anything else in.
Darek heard her stomach growl. “We should do lunch at that new Italian place across town.”
She gave him a look. “As long as it’s not a pizza place. I’m burned out on pizza.”
“How can you get burned out on pizza? But no, it’s not.”
Max rushed up and handed Darek a piece of paper. “Here’s the list from the escort service. Oh, and that was tattoo ink on the floor. Good call.”
“Arm Candies?” Lizzy laughed. “What a name.”
She slipped the page in front of Darek, and he glanced down to read it. His breath hitched as a name caught his eye. Tad Halston. He stared at the name and then closed his eyes, remembering. We’ll each take a turn. Shut her up at least. Run! Have to keep going. He stopped to catch his breath, and her hand lost its loose hold on his arm and dangled toward the ground. She was gone. He placed her in the mud and ran back toward the cabin.
“Are you okay?” Lizzy asked.
Darek opened his eyes to see her giving him a strange look. He had to think fast. “I was just thinking about the Capricorn. It was the first symbol tattooed on the victim, right? Maybe it was the victim’s zodiac sign?”
Lizzy stared through narrowed eyes. “No, she was a Gemini, like me. See? May twenty-fifth.”
“You too, huh? When is your birthday?” He shifted on his feet and let loose a long breath.
“May fourteenth.” She smiled, but he was sure she wasn’t sold on him being okay. “Remember that. You can buy me something nice.”
He hoped his cover had worked and knew he had to be more careful. This case was bound to drag up some of his past in ways others hadn’t. He couldn’t let her see it was getting to him. “So, I guess we need to follow these leads. Do you want to split them up or tackle them together?”
He hoped she’d want to split them up, and he was prepared to go see Tad Halston alone.
She gave a shrug. “Together is best, in my opinion. In case one of us zones out in the questioning. Plus, I want to know what it’s all about.”
There had been twelve of them total. One for each sign. Twelve people from his past who could be connected, based on the nature of the killing. As Lizzy looked over the paper and made notes on her phone, he thought about where the others could be.
He knew Tad, Logan, Lane, and Bay were all still somewhere in New York, most likely the city, while the rest were scattered across the US. Corey was in Phoenix. Seth was in Dallas. Alan Lowe had stayed in Vegas and now owned his father’s security company.
Darek knew the key to them was Bay Collins. The guy had kept up with everyone, while Darek had tried his hardest not to see any of them. That time in his life was so much better forgotten, and although he was ashamed to say it, he didn’t want to remember anything, not even the girl or what had happened after she was found.
Each of their group had dealt with things in their own way. Of that, he was certain, but there was one person who he knew would know the whereabouts of the others.
Another memory haunted him as he thought of Bay. Pussy. The hard memories of his father could be terrible, but thoughts of Bay had always brought him back to the day he’d met the guy at a small diner in Virginia. Talk about regrets; he regretted the moment he’d met Bay Collins.
“When you’re done daydreaming, we’ll check the security footage,” Lizzy said. “I’ve asked Max to check into the type of security they offered; if it was up to date.”
“Sounds good.” He tried to laugh it off. “I’m just so stressed at home. Don’t mind me.” He would hate for the girl to take him for some pervy asshole.
“Sorry to hear it. I know it’s not easy being responsible for everything there and having this type of case going on.”
“Yeah, it’s terrible.” He let out a long breath and knew he had to go see Bay as soon as possible, if only to save his own sanity.
8
Darek
The music pulsed through Darek’s ears as he walked around the dancefloor to the VIP section, where Bay Collins was surrounded by four half-naked women who all seemed eager for his attention. The lights danced off his platinum hair and his icy gray eyes. The guy looked like some kind of snow god, an ethereal being from a fantasy world, too pretty to be real, like Lucifer himself.
Same old Bay. All he ever wanted was for people to worship him, and it looked like he got his wish.
“Darek. How’s it going, man? Pull up a girl and have a seat.”
Two of the women turned away from Bay and held hands as they came around the table to give Darek their attention.
“Hello, ladies,” Darek said. “If you don’t mind, I’ll just have a minute or two alone with Mr. Collins.”
The women exchanged glances but didn’t leave until dismissed. Bay waved his hand, and they disappeared like obedient dogs. They were only for show anyway. Bay “The Slayer” Collins had to let people know who was in control.
Not tonight, buddy. Not tonight.
“Usually when I have guests, they call first. I’m surprised you found me.”